For those who might not have heard the word 'hanji' or 한지, it is natural. Well, Hanji does mean (lieterally) Korean paper. We had a chance to visit this famous Hanji Maeul in Wanju area, Chollabukdo province.
First thing first: We went there just to experience first-hand on how to make a hanji from natural resources --which is abundant in the area.
The picture above: one of the Hanji village in-charge told us about the initial steps of making hanji.
THe paper derived (to the best that I could grasp) from the Dak tree (닥나무) skin being pulled off after boiling them in the heat.The peeled-off layer of the tree skin was then beaten by a traditional stick as seen above. I am sure that there must be some modern equipment to do this. Anyhow, we managed to experience the traditional way of crushing and pounding the so-called 'dak-tree porridge'^^
I thought it was a a weed or some kind of opium ^^ (gosh and gasp!!)^^ But, I was completely wrong.
It turned out to be some kind of plants being used in making the hanji. Not sure what to do with, but it was surely one of the visible characteristics easily found in front of the hanji village.
The wet soon-to-be paper made by using a wooden or bamboo-made sieve seen on the pic above. The ready to be-dried up paper was then placed on the wet tissue-like cloth so as to make it easy to pull off.
Here is a closer look at how the sieves were being used by dipping them into the daknamu or dak tree porridge. Each of us was busy making our very own hanji.
It is a heated plate where paper are heated so as to help it dry up faster. I could not imagine what they must have been using in the past. I bet....they just let it dry under the sun for a day or two..but here..it took only 10 minutes or so.
Now these are what I call 'sieve'. Well, I simply do not know what it is called in Korean let alone English. So, I just might as well call it a 'sieve'
Hurray!!! The first hanji ever! I just could not believe that we did make our own hanji right here on the spot. Well, who would've thought?
It looks not as bright as the office-use paper as we know of. But, it is non-chemical (I guess) and it is made of purely natural stuffs.
Intermezzo: Just when I was about to exit from the paper-making room, I stumbled across this huge-looking wooden equipment...which turned out to be some kind of ironing machine /tool for pressing/flattening the paper. Impressive, eh?
Just when I was going out of the room, one more thing worth-doing was....printing a mark on our paper we made. It is a must-have item on our paper so as to give it an authentic look and feel.
At least ...we got a chance to make it look like factory-made.
With a touch of some knot from another paper-made lace, I made my paper look more stylish. (at least...it was supposed to be so^^)
The front facade of the whole complex at Hanji Maeul. A tall & giant Korean traditional swing was set up in front of the hanok-shaped factory.
A group picture with some dignitaries who runs the complex. The houses' lights were lit since it was already getting dark and we were just anxious to have dinner.
And what kind of dinner we had that night? (check out my other entry list about Wanju trip)
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